Minister of the Interior, Kwamena Bartels, has revealed that the seemingly innocent demonstration by Liberian refugees in the country was part of a wider plot by a number of persons to cause mayhem at the Gomoa Buduburam settlement and threaten the security of Ghana.
According to him, Government is aware of the presence of a number of ex-combatants at the settlement and will, therefore, not sit down unconcerned for the country’s security to be jeopardized.
The Minister made this startling revelation yesterday at the Ministry of Information and National Orientation Conference Room during the Interior Ministry’s turn of the “Meet the Press” series to brief the media on the latest development on the recent “illegal” demonstration embarked on by female Liberian refugees and the subsequent intervention of the Government through the security agencies.
“The course of action taken by this group of Liberians had been a matter of grave concern to the Government of the Republic of Ghana, as it did have grave security implications for the country”, Bartels said.
Government will no longer tolerate the situation where people who have been given our hospitality continue to undermine the Security of the state. Our national security is supreme and shall not be compromised on any account”, Mr. Bartels noted, adding that refugees have a responsibility to respect our laws as well as restrain from subversive activities against the State, which has them a home for the last 18 years.
A group of Liberian refugees on February 19, this year, embarked on an “illegal” demonstration at the Buduburam Refugee Settlement along the main highway from Accra to Ivory Coast.
The demonstration by the Liberians was in support of a petition addressed to the UNHCR in Geneva, demanding among other things, that they did not wish to be integrated into the Ghanaian society and would resist every attempt to integrate them
They also claimed that that they wished to be settled in a western country and that they would voluntarily repatriate to Liberia if they would each be paid $1000.
According to the Minister, the Government Ghana had no intention whatsoever to integrate the Liberians into the Ghanaian society and therefore wondered where they got that impression from.
“…Let me once again reiterate that Government has not decided to integrate them nor does it have any intention to do so”.
Again, the Minister said the issue of resettlement was not within the domain of the Government of Ghana or UNHCR, as offers of resettlement are made by recipient countries to UNHCR.
He insisted that Government was not aware of any such offers.
He added that the USA, which most of the refugees dream of being taken to, has made it clear that it will not resettle Liberians en-masse.
“On the issue of the payment of $1000, the UNHCR has made it clear that it cannot pay that amount,” he stressed.
Mr. Bartels noted that the demonstration embarked upon by the refugees was against the laws of the land and since they refused to listen to Government’s advice, the only they could have been dealt with was the way government did.
